The COVID-19 crisis has created a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty for Nigerians. As a responsible and responsive organization, the priority of the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) is to help control the virus and keep everyone safe and we advise everyone to follow the guidelines of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on protecting yourself and others.
In the last three years, AFRICMIL has been implementing a project tagged Corruption Anonymous, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, which aims to highlight the importance of whistleblowing in the fight against corruption and the need to protect whistle blowers from retaliation.
As the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic, the Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) and partners recently launched a letter calling on all public authorities and institutions to protect whistleblowers. Coronavirus whistleblowers around the world have been exposing inadequate health system capacity and delivery, public procurement problems, violations of health and safety and labour laws, inequitable and ill-prepared global supply chains, unfair competition practices and market abuses, and large-scale violations of personal privacy rights.
It’s for this reason that we need Nigerians to speak up and be listened to if they have concerns about health and safety, fraud or other types of wrongdoing in the public interest in the management of the COVID-19 crisis.
The COVID-19 pandemic brings into stark reality the importance of accountability and the need for regular and reliable information from our public institutions and our leaders.
Nigerians need to know the truth about the spread of the disease both locally and internationally in order to respond effectively and help protect their communities. Transparency and cooperation are vital and never more so than during a pandemic.
We advise that you report your concerns to your employer where possible so that they have the chance to address those concerns promptly. If you think that your disclosure needs to be made to someone other than your employer or a State agency/regulator, you may report to the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy, the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), anti-corruption agencies like the EFCC and ICPC, the media or relevant civil society organisations.
We encourage all citizens and workers to participate in ensuring our governments, corporate institutions, both public and private, remain accountable during this crisis and beyond.
We should exercise our right to blow the whistle internally or externally if needed and to do so free from retaliation.
Anyone with valuable information can submit tips through these secure platforms:
PICA: Call or text: +2349098067946 or e-mail whistle@finance.gov.ng Website: http://whistle.finance.gov.ng/Pages/default.aspx
AFRICMIL: Call or text: +234 81 1877 1666 or email contact@corruptionanonymous.org
Website: https://corruptionanonymous.org/contact-us/
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